The Mighty Thor #7Review

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Getting to know young Odin and his brother, Cul.

By Erik Norris

This review contains spoilers for Fear Itself #7. You've been warned!

If you've continued past that spoiler disclaimer, then odds are you've read Fear Itself #7 and know how that book plays out. For those who didn't read it but still don't care about having it spoiled, Thor dies at the end. I mention that plot twist only because The Mighty Thor #7 is meant to act as a prequel to the entire Fear Itself event and give context to Thor's passing. Does it succeed? Unfortunately, no. The Mighty Thor #7's biggest pitfall is that it really doesn't accomplish much more than was already said in the main Fear Itself proper. Therefore, this issue just feels like ho-hum filler.

The Mighty Thor #7 sets out to tell the story of how Odin and his brother Cul (The Serpent from Fear Itself) come into ruling Asgard. After an opening where their father, Bor, is pronounced dead, Cul takes it upon himself to become Asgard's new king. However, as these things tend to go, Cul becomes drunk with power and starts to instill fear into the inhabitants of Midgard, the very people who worship him. Odin doesn't take kindly to this turn of events and decides to do something about it. That about sums up the book's first nine pages, leaving the rest of the issue to awkwardly flash forward quite a few years to when Odin returns to challenge his brother once and for all after getting the blessing from Yggdrasil.

This is the moment where The Mighty Thor #7 falls off the rails. The transition from young Odin to older, hardened Odin couldn't have been handled any worse. There is no context given on when this moment takes place in the timeline, and even worse, Cul's "worthy" are rendered by artist Pasqual Ferry like the contemporary characters that get possessed by these beings in Fear Itself. I guess we're expected to believe the Worthy always look as they do no matter who is possessed, but I find it hard to stomach that these ancient versions of the Worthy look exactly like Sin, the Thing, Hulk and Juggernaut.

Fraction's story here also ends on a note we've known since the early stages of Fear Itself, namely that Odin banished his brother and has lied about his existence ever since. If this issue had dropped before a single issue of Fear Itself released, this ending might have been more topical and poignant. But instead, this story beat now feels unnecessary to once again cover.

I was honestly hoping for more from this Fear Itself prequel issue. Fraction could have spent a considerable amount of time with Odin and Cul during the early years of their lives, but instead decides to hastily rush past the good stuff to harp on points he's already made elsewhere. This issue had potential, but it definitely doesn't deliver on it.